The ''Tarikh-i Qum'' ("History of Qum") is a book about the history of the city of

Qom Qom (; ) is a city in the Central District of Qom County, Qom province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. It is the seventh largest metropolis and also the seventh largest city in Iran. The city is ...

, written by Hasan ibn Muhammad Qumi, in

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

, in 988. The original work is now lost, but a 15th-century

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

translation by Hasan ibn Ali Qumi has been preserved. During the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, many Iranian cities (such as Qom) had their own local history books written about them, but most of them have been lost. The ones that remain focus mostly on the religious matters, rather than the history of the city. The ''Tarikh-i Qum'' notably focuses on the latter. Details regarding the life of Hasan ibn Muhammad Qumi are obscure. Of

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

origin, he was a descendant of the

Ash'ari Ash'arism (; ) is a school of theology in Sunni Islam named after Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari, a Shāfiʿī jurist, reformer (''mujaddid''), and scholastic theologian, in the 9th–10th century. It established an orthodox guideline, based on ...

that had once ruled Qom. The sources that he based on his work on implies that he was a local

Shi'ite Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood to ...

scholar, and thus most likely one of the first Shi'ite historians in Iran whose work has been preserved. It was during the term of his brother Abu'l-Qasim Ali ibn Muhammad Katib as tax collector (appointed in 963), when Hasan accumulated most of his sources. In his work, Hasan does not mention any trips outside Qom to collect books, but he does mention the people he were in correspondence with, which includes the

Buyid The Buyid dynasty or Buyid Empire was a Zaydi and later Twelver Shi'a dynasty of Daylamite origin. Founded by Imad al-Dawla, they mainly ruled over central and southern Iran and Iraq from 934 to 1062. Coupled with the rise of other Iranian dyna ...

vizier

Sahib ibn Abbad Abu’l-Qāsim Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbbād ibn al-ʿAbbās (; born 938 - died 30 March 995), better known as Ṣāḥib ibn ʿAbbād (), also known as al-Ṣāḥib (), was a Persian scholar and statesman, who served as the grand vizier of the Buyid ...

(died 995), to whom he dedicated his ''Tarikh-i Qum'' to. Hasan wrote his work in the same style as that of the now lost history of

Isfahan Isfahan or Esfahan ( ) is a city in the Central District (Isfahan County), Central District of Isfahan County, Isfahan province, Iran. It is the capital of the province, the county, and the district. It is located south of Tehran. The city ...

Hamza al-Isfahani Ḥamza ibn al-Ḥasan ibn al-Mū'addib al-Iṣbahānī Abū ‘Abd Allāh (; – after 961), commonly known as Ḥamza al-Iṣfahānī or Hamza Esfahani (), was a Persian philologist and historian, who wrote in Arabic during the 'Abbasid and ...

(died after 961).

References

Sources

* {{Encyclopædia Iranica Online , title = Tāriḵ-e Qom , last = Drechsler , first = Andreas , url = https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/tarik-e-qom , year = 2005 Iranian books 10th-century history books History books about Iran Qom 10th-century Arabic-language books 15th-century Persian books